Everyone was laughing, clapping rhythms. “Aiyiyi! Aiyiyi! ‘Bring me . . . to a good family, bring me . . . to a warm hearth.’ ”

There were almost a thousand folk living in the various nearby camps or within the walled town with its market and burgeoning crafts and artisan quarter. So many! Anji halted, and his guards stopped, and she watched as the procession paced farther away toward the sapling Ladytree about half a mey distant down the track that led south along the shore of the sea, to other places and other villages not under Qin control.

“Too many people,” said Anji. “Too far from the gate. We’ll go back now, Mai.”

She sighed and, fanning herself, went without protest. Anyway, her feet were swollen, and she was really getting hot as the long afternoon baked the earth. As they trudged past the irrigation ponds, the cheerful shouts and singing faded into the shimmering heat-haze behind them. The barracks and training grounds lay empty. Everyone had followed the procession, except for the soldiers on watch.

“What about this valley the reeves found?” Anji asked. “Who has been there?”

“Only the reeves. They say you can only fly in and out. It’s lush and beautiful, so they say.”

“I’ll ask Marshal Joss.”

“I thought I would see him here today, since he brought you in yesterday.”

“He’s on patrol. For a man who charms women so readily, I’m surprised he never married.”

“There’s a tale fit for a song. A sad, sad song.”

“Not one I’m likely to enjoy.”

She tapped him on the arm with the folded fan. “I forgive you for finding the old songs ridiculous, Anji. But I love them.”

To her surprise, he kissed her lightly on the cheek. Certainly his Qin escort looked as startled as she was herself at such a bold, public gesture.

“Captain?” inquired Chief Tuvi with a look of concern.

“The heat has overcome me, Tuvi-lo,” said Anji with a laugh.

An eagle plummeted out of the sky. Mai shrieked, caught by surprise. Her belly contracted, and she bent over as the muscle clenched with an iron grip around her middle.

“Priya, help me!” Anji supported her as Priya held her other arm. “Tuvi, that eagle is Scar. Go see what Joss wants. I want a cart for Mai—”

“It’s easing. I can walk. A cart would jolt me worse.”

“Let’s move,” said Anji as she straightened.

They halted in the shadow of the gate to wait for the reeve sprinting down from the empty market square where his huge eagle had landed.

“What is it, Marshal?” Anji called.

He shook his head, handsome face creased with a deadly frown. “Trouble.” Then he had to stop to catch his breath.

“Call the alert,” said Anji.

The reeve heaved a pair of breaths, trying to get enough air to speak. “Wait, wait! Give me a moment.”

Anji waited.

“A group of perhaps two hundred armed men. About three mey south of here. Riding hard up the main track. They must have worked their way at night northward through the wilderness and only now broken cover.”